The Eternal Bond
by raga19
Summary: As the gang grows older a strange dream provokes a taboo relationship between friends. Meanwhile a stranger from the east comes to the Great Valley asking for Littlefoot's help, starting the greatest adventure of their lives. Chapter 6 is now up.
1. Prologue

Prologue

The small rodent-like creature scurried along the rock face, its small beady eyes searching for anything edible. It hadn't found anything to eat in nearly an hour and with its lightning fast metabolism, burning up calories almost as fast it could consume them, it needed to find a decent sized source of food or be forced to forage during the night. Finally it found a small bush surrounded by a few weeds. It was enough food to survive on for nearly three days, and with a small crack in a boulder next to it, the rodent had found its next home.

Just as it began to feast the rodent heard the footsteps of two considerably larger creatures walking its way. With a small squeak of fear the rodent ran into its new found shelter, turned around, and peaked back out the entrance to watch the creatures as they came by.

Two long necks rounded the corner and at first the rodent thought it was seeing double, until it noticed the subtle differences between the two dinosaurs. The two were slightly different sizes, one a little bit larger than the other. The larger of the two had brown eyes, was a dark tan with a touch of purple and had a large patch of a very dark purple running along his back. The smaller had blue eyes and similar color scheme, except lighter, and with a pink hue, both were obviously very young.

"Ali, are there any other kids our age in your herd?" the larger asked the smaller, apparently named Ali, as he nervously kicked a small rock off the ledge to their left. The rodent had noticed that the larger long neck had seemed perfectly comfortable, if a little worried, when he had first rounded the corner, but now he couldn't bring himself to look at Ali. He seemed extremely nervous and well out of his comfort zone.

"A few, why?" Ali answered innocently, she seemed completely fine. "Are any of them boys?" the larger responded. _I see what he's trying to do_, the rodent thought with a surprisingly complete knowledge of dinosaur relationships.

"I don't know, there's a few, why are you so curious Littlefoot?" Ali asked

"I don't know" Littlefoot hastily responded, "Just trying to pass the time."

The rodent realized that Littlefoot's answer was too little, too late; the look on Ali's face told it that she had realized what was going through the head of her traveling partner. It saw the tails of the two long necks brush up against each other several times, until on the third time Littlefoot made his move. His tail rapped round Ali's tail, and Ali returned the gesture. The rodent felt his heart beat faster and began to wonder why he was reacting so acutely to what was happening, it didn't affect him. The long necks stopped and looked into each other's eyes, for nearly a minute not even the leaves on the nearby bush moved. Suddenly they broke eye and tail contact, looked away in embarrassment and resumed their walk as if nothing happened.

The rodent felt the sudden surge of disappointment. "What are you doing? Why didn't you kiss her?! She likes you!!!!" the rodent found itself yelling to nobody in particular, the long necks couldn't understand him. "God dam it you idiot!" it yelled again. "No!", this time though, it wasn't a rodent's voice yelling.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

A Dream's Consequence and a Hidden Truth

"NO!" Littlefoot yelled as he woke from his dream. While still a little groggy despite the rush of adrenaline in his blood, Littlefoot looked over to his grandparents, making sure they hadn't been woken. They were still sleeping peacefully and Littlefoot breathed a sigh of relief while slowly standing up.

In the moonlight it was obvious that the Littlefoot standing in the clearing was very different from the one in his dream. Several years had gone by and Littlefoot had grown, not by much in his species standards, but enough to notice. The purple on his body had begun to fade and was being replaced by a grayish tan. That is, except for his back. His back had become a blazing crimson, a color rarely seen in long necks and considered extremely attractive by others. As Littlefoot quietly left the clearing a scar on his right foreleg became visible. The scar had an unusual shape, a semi-circle, a little more than half-way full, with its open end pointing straight back towards his tail. Littlefoot had received the scar while playing tag with his friends a few years ago. It still hurt from time to time but most of the time Littlefoot didn't even remember it was there.

_I need to talk to somebody about this_ Littlefoot thought as he weaved through the trees, dodging some of the lower branches that could now hit him if he wasn't careful. He stopped at a tiny clearing and began munching on a few treestars as he considered who would be the most helpful. The adults were out of the question, they would just laugh and tell Littlefoot that it was young love and not to be bothered by it. But Littlefoot was bothered by it, Ali hadn't entered his mind in such a long time and suddenly, for no apparent reason, he had this dream about her. The rodent perspective actually made sense to Littlefoot, he often felt as worthless as those tiny creatures when he thought about how cowardly he had acted with Ali. The reason the dream had come at all was the real mystery.

Littlefoot then turned his thoughts to his friends. Spike was useless, the spike-tail could talk, but getting him to was way too much effort for Littlefoot. Petrie and Ducky wouldn't be much help either. As much as Littlefoot cared for them, they hadn't matured much over the past few years. This left Cera. As much as Littlefoot hated to admit it, she was his only option. Cera seemed tough and unloving on the outside, but Littlefoot knew there was sweet girl somewhere under that thick skull. Plus Littlefoot always felt a special bond with Cera, she would understand him. So Littlefoot left his midnight snack and moved off towards the nest Cera shared with her father, stepmother and sisters.

* * *

Cera sat on her throne, watching as her loyal subjects attended to her every command. She was ruler of the valley, all bowed down before her. An evil smile spread across her face as she basked in her power. That was until she felt the swift kick to her side that jolted her from her dream.

"What the-" she was about to yell when she felt someone's tail forced into her mouth. She knew instantly who it was, the only person she knew who would dare shut her up using their tail. It was Littlefoot.

Cera glared angrily up at the long neck, and turned towards her father to make sure he was still asleep. Littlefoot motioned for her to follow and she angrily complied. _That flathead, this better be good_ she thought as she walked. The three-horn looked up at the long neck and found her anger quickly disappearing. Littlefoot's crimson patch gleamed in the moon light and Cera couldn't help but feel something. _What are you doing Cera?_ She thought to herself, _He's a long neck!_ There were three horns that had a slight reddish hue but nothing near what Littlefoot had so it really wasn't considered an attractive quality among the species. Still Cera felt an almost constant attraction to it and couldn't help but stare at the blob of color even as it started to grow larger.

"Hey! Cera, watch where you're walking!" Littlefoot cried out.

"Sorry…" Cera muttered back.

"You know your horns hurt!"

Cera looked straight up at the two small horns growing on her eyebrows and realized how much she had grown over the past few years. She was keeping up with Littlefoot in size, but that would end soon enough, and her two eyebrow horns were finally starting to grow in. They were a little longer than her nose horn, which would start to grow soon enough, and Cera couldn't be prouder of them. Unfortunately there was another change she wasn't so happy about. She had always loved her orange skin, but most of it was quickly turning grey. Not all the orange was gone though; many said she looked like a grey three horn with orange splattered all over her. It wasn't the best look in the world but more of the orange would disappear and leave just a few streaks behind.

Cera looked back at Littlefoot as he sat down and got comfortable. "So what's so important that it couldn't wait till the morning?" Cera asked, her annoyance barely concealed. "I had a dream…" Littlefoot responded with a somber tone. "A dream?! You woke me up because you had a dream?!" Cera felt her anger surge back, _He woke me up in the middle of the night because of a dream?_ "It was a dream about Ali" Littlefoot responded defensively. "Oh" Cera said softly.

She knew Ali was a sensitive subject for Littlefoot. There were no other long necks their age in the Great Valley so Ali was the only girl long neck Littlefoot's age that he had ever gotten to know. Even though Ali was important to Littlefoot Cera didn't like her. She wasn't sure why, Ali had more than proven herself to Cera, but she just did not like her.

Cera looked up into Littlefoot's eyes as he stared back into hers. She could see the starlight twinkling around his dark brown eyes just before she bashfully looked away only to have her eyes settle on Littlefoot's crimson patch. Cera then turned away from that too and glanced at the semi-circle scar on Littlefoot's leg and felt the wave of guilt rush over her. It was her fault that scar was there.

"Do you love her?" Cera asked simply as she looked down at her paws. Littlefoot couldn't look at Cera either, he turned away and replied "I don't know, I do know that I'll probably never see her again and I've accepted that. Ever since I've accepted that I haven't dreamt of her, till now".

Cera knew what was coming, their entire lives had been one great journey to this night. They had been through so much together, she had even been there the day Littlefoot's mother died right before his eyes. There had always been a special bond between the two, a bond stronger than with anyone else. Cera looked back up to Littlefoot as he looked back to her and the two began to slowly lean in closer to each other. She then said the sentence she knew would seal their fates "Maybe the dream was trying to tell you that you have fallen in love with someone else". They came closer and closer, "I think I have" Littlefoot said in a quiet voice. "Who?" Cera asked even though she already knew the answer.

"You"

They closed their eyes and pushed their heads together, nuzzling. _What are you doing?_ Cera asked herself, _Your nuzzling a long neck, are you crazy?_ Her thoughts were quickly suppressed as the most wonderful feeling she had ever experienced came over her. She loved it, and she loved him. For once in her life she swallowed her pride and her prejudice and just allowed her uncensored feelings to control her actions. After a few seconds they broke apart and stared into each other eyes knowing that nothing would ever be the same. They were both tired so they said goodnight and began to walk back to their respective nests. Just before they left the clearing Cera stopped, looked back at Littlefoot and said "I love you Littlefoot".

"I love you too Cera".

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"I love you, not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you"

-Roy Croft

Yay, quote for chapter 1


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

A Stranger's Task and a Secret in The Open

Littlefoot yelped and reared his head away from the branch that had just poked his eye. Despite the pain he took the opportunity to steal a glance at Cera standing a few yards away. He had never realized how beautiful she was to him, he even like the mosaic of yellow and grey that most considered an unfortunate side-effect of a three horn's teenaged years. He resisted the urge to walk over to her and nuzzle her again; it wouldn't be wise since they weren't alone.

The entire gang was there, the same five dinosaurs that had been through so much together. Petrie was munching on some treestars near Littlefoot's head. The flyer looked much the same as he always had but was growing noticeably larger as the years went by. Spike and Ducky were down by Cera, Ducky was also growing larger but it was spike that was going through the most dramatic changes. Large plates were growing on his back where little knobs of bone used to be and the razor sharp spikes that give spike tails their name where growing at an alarming rate. His formally green skin was slowly darkening to an earthy brown.

Littlefoot and Cera had met up early in the morning before finding their friends to talk about the night before. At first the meeting was very awkward, neither really knowing what to. Flashes of his cowardice with Ali ran through Littlefoot's head forcing him to make a move. He reached in and they affectionately rubbed heads, "Cera, can I…?" Littlefoot shyly asked. Cera giggled at Littlefoot's innocence "Of course you can, you don't have to ask!" Littlefoot leaned in and nuzzled Cera gently until he was forced to break away by the wide grin spreading across his face. Despite his incredible happiness Littlefoot felt something was wrong, he looked down at Cera's three milky white horns. He then rubbed the top of his head on Cera's frill in what would appear to be a sign of affection. In reality Littlefoot was just checking the obvious. He had no horns.

The smile quickly disappeared off Littlefoot's face and Cera took notice, asking what was wrong. "I'm a long neck, you are a three horn" Littlefoot said flatly. Cera's signs of joy evaporated and her face turned to despair. "Nobody is going to accept this" he finished, averting his eyes from Cera. She reached in and used her horns to turn Littlefoot's face back towards her and whispered "It doesn't matter".

They decided to keep their feelings a secret from everyone else for now. They would tell Ducky, Petrie and Spike soon enough, they would accept the long neck and three horn's decision. It would only be a matter of time until the relationship was completely out in the open, but they decided not to think about it now. For now they would just enjoy having each other.

* * *

There was an explosion of dust as the three horn's paw hit the stony ground. The dinosaur was large, very large; although it was still obvious he wasn't fully grown. His color scheme was unusual for a three horn, not only did he have a rare musty brown color instead of the usual flat grey but he had crimson stripes. These stripes, outlined in black, ran all along the three horn's back, from the tip of his tail up to his snout and on his right foreleg was the most puzzling detail of all, a semi-circle scar.

The three-horn was walking through a barren waste-land, nothing but a few weeds grew around him. He looked a few yards up ahead and saw his purple traveling partner. "How much further?" the three horn yelled, not giving any effort to hiding his irritation. "We're almost there, we should arrive before the bright circle is halfway through the sky" the other dinosaur responded. _We better be, __sharptooth_ the three horn thought to himself, and indeed his guide had the characteristic large, powerful legs, skimpy two-fingered arms and dagger sharp teeth of a sharptooth.

The three horn's unexpected companion was young though, and the three horn could easily take him down. This may not stay true forever, but for the time being the sharptooth had far more to fear than he did.

Suddenly the earth beneath them started to shake. _A god dam earthshake_ the three horn thought to himself. He knew exactly how to act in volcanically active areas like the one he was travelling through. He stood perfectly still and listened intently, suddenly a large cracking sound came from behind him and the three horn leaped several yards forward. The ground behind exploded and lava came spewing into the air, the masses of glowing orange landing just inches from his tail.

"Luca, you ok?" The sharptooth called back. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, just fine" Luca grumbled.

"Luca?" the sharptooth called back again.

"Yeah, what?" Luca barked back.

"We're here".

* * *

"Earthshake!" the gang yelled in unison, still fearful of the relatively common occurrence. Instead of panicking and running in circles though, they ran straight for the main entrance to the Great Valley. About a year ago a series of large earthshakes had rocked the Great Valley. During the shakes a large hole in the great wall developed, leaving the valley vulnerable to the dangers of the mysterious beyond. It took nearly a month, and every resident of the valley, to block up the hole again.

During the fix a small passageway was left in the wall, creating a main entrance to the valley and allowing the other entrances to be blocked up. The passageway is constantly manned by a guard who has the ability to seal the entrance should any sharpteeth come too close. Unfortunately when the ground starts shaking and rocks start falling even the best systems go horribly wrong.

When they arrived at the entrance their fears were realized, the dark brown club-tail that was standing guard now lay on his belly, several streaks of blood running along his face. Ducky ran up to the club-tail and put her ear to its nostrils. "He's alive, he's going to have quite the headache, but he should be fine, yup, yup" she concluded. "Ok" Littlefoot said, "We'll keep up his pos-". He stopped, standing in front of him was Luca, but to Littlefoot, Luca was just a stranger.

The long neck stared at Luca with a puzzled look on his face. "Are you Littlefoot?" Luca asked. "Who are you?" the long neck responded, acting as if he hadn't heard what Luca had said. "Are you Littlefoot?" Luca repeated in a stronger tone. The long neck considered the question, glanced at his friends, turned back to Luca and said "Ya, but who are you?" Luca ignored the question "Excellent, I've been looking for you for a year now".

"How did you find me?"

A smirk grew across Luca's face. Any normal dinosaur would have asked why, but Littlefoot was obviously not a normal dinosaur, he had realized that if Luca won't give away his own name, the odds that he was going to give up his purpose were slim. "An old friend of yours showed me the way" he finally answered. Luca prides himself on his powers of observation, and he took note of the slight changes on Littlefoot's face. Littlefoot's eyes widened slightly, the pupils growing large, but suddenly a small frown grew on his face and he took a quick glance at the three horn next to him. Luca had his theory, but that had to wait.

"Who?" the three horn asked with a hint of irritation that only added more evidence to Luca's suspicion. Luca stepped aside and the gang gasped and instinctively took fighting stances as they saw a young sharptooth standing nervously right behind the spot Luca was standing. "Relax, you know him" Luca said, trying to calm the dinosaurs. "Chomper?" Littlefoot asked, not really believing the sharptooth standing before him was that loveable baby he once knew.

Chomper looked shyly up at Littlefoot and nodded, still visibly nervous. Luca was a little uneasy too, he didn't know how the dinosaurs standing in front of him would react to the sharptooth in their presence.

After a pause a smile grew across Littlefoot's face and Chomper was greeted by his friends. "I'm sorry to cut your little reunion short but I need to talk to Littlefoot, alone" Luca interrupted. "What you can say to Littlefoot, you can say to all of us" Cera shot back angrily as she stepped between Luca and Littlefoot. _Well, someone's pretty defensive_ Luca thought, his theory all but confirmed, _I'm going to have to end this_.

"Fine, its Cera right?"

"Yes" Cera snorted back.

"You can come along, but no one else". Littlefoot and Cera looked at each other than turned to their friends. After a series of nodding Littlefoot said "Fine, follow me, I know where we can talk". Luca followed Littlefoot and Cera to a small rocky outcropping about a ten minute walk north of the main entrance. The outcropping jutted out into the valley, but a ring of large boulders around the rim and a sixty-foot drop to the valley floor the spot was very private. During the walk Luca pretended to be distracted by the Great Valley's beauty but in reality he was paying close attention to the dinosaurs in front of him. They held a whispered conversation the entire time, keeping Luca out of earshot. Luca could tell they were talking about him from the quick glances in his direction, but the conversation soon turned. Cera's demeanor changed completely, and Luca could hear the occasional giggle float back to him. _They make me sick_ Luca thought in disgust.

They gathered in a circle and Luca began his story. "I come from a forest on the foothills of Animus Mountain, about a two week walk east of this valley. When I was young we were always protected by an ancient order of three horns, called the Animus Benevolentia, until a few years ago." "What happened?" Littlefoot asked curiously. Luca sighed "The Animus Benevolentia are lead by the Cornu Valde, they have to follow his every order. A few years ago the current Cornu Valde started to grow old and senile and began to make strange tactical decisions, even the eldest members of the Animus Benevolentia began to question his leadership. Sharpteeth were constantly finding their way into the forest, killing, eating." Luca trailed off, sorrow in his eyes.

"About a year ago the Cornu Valde became deathly ill and passed on. An egg appeared at the entrance to the throne cave, as has always happened in the past, and we waited for the solar eclipse, for it would tell us when to bring the egg to the birthing cave. Months passed without an eclipse and the inefficient leadership that we revert to after the death of a Cornu Valde couldn't hold the Sharpteeth at bay. They killed, they ate, and they eventually stole the egg. The Animus Benevolentia elders went to the mountain seer, desperate to find a way to retrieve the egg before the eclipse came.

"The seer told them that there were only two dinosaurs that could retrieve the egg, Luca the three horn of my own home, that's me, and Littlefoot the long neck of the Great valley, that's you." Luca finished. "So some seer said that we're supposed to rescue the egg of the future leader of your protectors from Sharpteeth." Littlefoot summarized. "Yes, a highly organized group of Sharpteeth that plans to hatch the new Cornu Valde and use him to unlock the secrets of the Animus Benevolentia, very powerful secrets." Luca answered.

Littlefoot looked down and shook his head. _He must have the wrong Littlefoot, there is no way I'm supposed to do this_, he thought to himself, _but he said Littlefoot of the Great Valley_. He looked at Cera next to him and wished he could be as brave as her. He could ignore this task, it didn't affect him, but he couldn't bring himself to leave all those three horns to die, he would do it. "Ok, I'll go with you." He finally decided. "Excellent, we have to wait though. We have no idea where the egg is but once the solar eclipse occurs the Sharpteeth will have to bring the egg to the birthing cave where they will have to wait on another eclipse that will finally hatch the egg. So we leave at the next eclipse, until than we have a rather large problem to sort out." Luca said, "We have to stop this unholy relationship between the two of you".

Littlefoot was shocked, "How did you know?" "You two don't hide it very well, it was simple to figure out, but it must end, not only will it be a distraction but I will not let one of my own kind mate with someone outside of our species" Luca answered curtly. "WE'RE NOT MATING!" Littlefoot and Cera yelled simultaneously, "And if you do anything to try and end this relationship I not going to help you!" Littlefoot screamed, burning with anger. "I find it funny that you think you actually have a choice, the number of Sharpteeth in the mysterious beyond pales in comparison to the number just east of Animus, if my people fall this valley will be next." Luca said defensively.

Littlefoot knew Luca was right, by the sound of his story Animus sounded full of Sharpteeth that would probably end up finding the Great Valley in the future, he still didn't want the relationship to end though, he loved Cera. "Can't we deal with this afterward?" Littlefoot pleaded. "Fine, you are obviously not willing to end this, but I'm sure your parents will" Luca said as he turned and started to walk off. "Wait!" Littlefoot yelled and ran up to Luca, "We'll end it, we'll end it" Littlefoot said in defeat. "No" Cera said defiantly from behind. "If you want to tell our parents go ahead, but I love Littlefoot and I'm not ending this relationship because of racism." "Very well." Luca said and walked off.

"This is going to be a disaster." Littlefoot said and began to walk away. "Wait" Cera called after him. Littlefoot stopped and looked back towards her. "I'm not looking forward to returning home tonight so I was wondering if you would spend the hours till than with me." Cera quietly asked. Littlefoot walked back and to Cera and they embraced.

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"Pleasure of love lasts but a moment, pain of love lasts a lifetime."

-Bette Davis

I had a hard time finding a quote for this one, and yes, I am going to add a quote to each chapter from now on.


	4. Chapter 3

Hey everybody, this is the next chapter and I hope you like it. I had a lot more time than usual to work on this story last week so I probably won't be uploading this quickly in the future. Just as a warning this chapter has a couple stronger words (I try to aviod that where possible) and some dark ideas.

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Chapter 3:

Consequence

The fast-bitter ran swiftly through the dark underground cavern in an obvious rush. This particular fast-bitter was known as a Deinonychus to those who fight Sharpteeth often enough that a distinction needs to be made. The Deinonychus, or D-chew as many called them when pronunciation skills broke down in battle, was fairly average in every way. It was a little under eleven feet long and extremely bird like in appearance, with long brown feathers covering most of its body. Its head was drastically different from a bird though, covered in pale scales and containing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

"This can't be good" he muttered to himself as he rounded corner after corner, running further into the cave. It was fairly dark, but the occasional hole in the cavern ceiling allowed enough light in for the D-chew to see. "Ugh, why do we have to go so deep into these caverns?" he asked himself.

Finally the D-chew came upon another dinosaur, one that caused a momentary wave of fear. Standing before him was a massive sharptooth, more specifically Tyrannosaurus. This Tyrannosaurus, also known as a T-Rex, was around forty-two feet long form snout to tail. Its massive head had teeth nearly a foot long that could easily rip the D-chew to pieces, it had small skimpy looking two-digit arms that were surprisingly powerful for their miniscule size. In contrast to its arms the T-Rex's legs where absolutely massive, bulging with the muscle and raw power it took to propel the seven ton behemoth. The dinosaur's muddy brown skin blended in with the cavern wall so well that anyone who just glanced at its location wouldn't even notice that the giant monster was there.

"What do you want?" it said in borderline disgust as it looked down at the comparatively tiny creature before it. "He wanted to see me" the D-chew answered with a quiver in his voice, in reality he was that scared of the T-Rex, as intimidating as the dinosaur was, it had no reason to harm him. "We'll see" the creature said as it slowly turned and walked into the massive cave behind it. The D-Chew followed in his wake, dodging the occasional stalactite that was shaken loose by the massive impacts of the T-Rex's foot.

"You can leave us now" came a voice from the pitch black corner of the cave the moment the T-Rex and D-chew had entered. The T-Rex turned and left without a word and true fear began to seep into the D-chew. The dinosaur leaving the room may appear frightening but it was an idiot and would only attack when given orders to do so. The creature hiding in the shadows was another story; the D-chew knew what it looked like and was glad he couldn't see him now.

"I have a task for you Stoneclaw" the voice said as Stoneclaw trembled in fear realizing that the booming voice before him probably came from lungs bigger than him. "Anything you say master" Stoneclaw obediently responded, trying his best to hide his fear. "You have been to the Great Valley before, correct?" the voice asked. Stoneclaw confirmed this and the voice continued. "The Animus Benevolentia have sent a three horn to the valley to find someone, I want you to go there and find out who their looking for and why, then I want you to get rid of them, understood?" "Yes master, I understand" Stoneclaw said. "Good, now go" the voice finished and Stoneclaw quickly left, glad to be free of the cave.

* * *

Littlefoot stepped from the trees into the large clearing he and his grandparent used as a home. Usually when Littlefoot returned home this late his grandparents were already asleep, but tonight was different and as expected they were still wide awake. When they saw Littlefoot walk into the clearing they glanced at each other and walked up to their grandchild, the ground softly rumbling under their massive weight. Littlefoot sat down and waited for his grandparents to talk, uncertain of what was to come.

"Littlefoot, do you know a certain three horn named Luca who came to visit us today?" his grandfather asked. Littlefoot sighed and responded, "He actually never gave us his name, but I'm pretty sure I know who you're talking about". "And is what he said true, about you and Cera?" Littlefoot's grandmother added. "Yes" Littlefoot said flatly, looking down at his paws since he couldn't bring himself to look up at his grandparents.

His grandparents looked at each other and sighed, "We're not angry at you Littlefoot, this is your decision, it's just that inter-species relationships are nearly unheard of, and many view them very poorly" Littlefoot's grandfather said, trying to cheer up his grandson. "I know, but I still don't want to end it." Littlefoot replied, almost pleadingly. "Well as long as you know that it isn't the most popular thing then we are not going to stop it. It is your decision Littlefoot and we will respect that, Cera's father on the other hand" Grandpa Longneck trailed off. "I know, it's not going to be pretty, but Cera wanted to handle it on her own."

* * *

At the same time that Littlefoot was talking to his grandparents, Cera entered her own clearing. She looked around quickly and saw her father sitting in the middle of the field, but both Tria and Tricia were missing. Not a good sign. Cera obediently walked up to her father and sat down next to his unusually calm form. An observer would think that Topsy wasn't all that angry, but Cera knew her father and had to stop herself from shaking in fear. She looked up at Topsy, a very formidable sight for her to behold. At least three times her size, a mixture of dark grey and a light grey belly and skull, with three massive horns protruding from his triangular face, Topsy caused fear even in Sharpteeth.

"Is it true?" he said quietly and evenly. Cera was growing increasingly fearful as the seconds went by, the longer it took for Topsy to explode, the worse the explosion would be. "Yes" Cera answered without explanation, she knew answering a yes or no question when her father was like this with anything other than yes or no was deadly. "Why Cera, why are you doing this to me?" Topsy asked, his voice filled with what sounded like defeat. _Ugh_ Cera thought to herself, _he's trying to guilt trip me_. "But-" Cera never got to finish her sentence, for the volcano that was her father blew.

"What is wrong with you Cera! This is just plain disgusting! What kind of example are you setting for your sister? You know she looks up to you, and yet you go ahead and do this! And of all the creatures in the world you choose a flathead, you might as well have fallen in love with a sharptooth! And then, as if it weren't enough that you get into a relationship with a long neck, you choose Littlefoot, that good for nothing mother fucker!" Topsy finished.

Cera was shocked, her father had never cursed in her presence before. Fear overwhelmed her, freezing her to the spot. But it soon disappeared as Cera turned from a frightened little girl to a very pissed off three horn. "I don't give a shit what you think" she finally said, saying each word individually and with great force. Topsy of stunned, even Cera was surprised at herself, "What did you say?" was all that he could manage to utter.

"I said that I don't give a shit. I have had enough of you bossing me around and forcing prejudice on me. You can't control me, this is my life and I will live it the way I want to! And if you don't like it than you can go fuck yourself!" Cera continued to yell, not believing it was actually her saying the words. Meanwhile Topsy just stood in place, mouth open, unable to comprehend what he was hearing.

Finally he managed to compose himself "Cera, I am you father and you will not talk to me in such a way". "You're not my father, not anymore!" Cera yelled right into Topsy's face before turning and running. Topsy took a few bounds after her but then stopped at the edge of the clearing. "Fine! Run! See how much I care, go to the mysterious beyond while you're at it, hopefully you'll die there and save me any more humiliation!" he bellowed after her.

For Cera it was like a boulder fell on top of her. Her own father had just wished she would die; the words were still ringing in her ears, stinging worse than anything she had ever experienced. She had managed to stop herself from crying during the whole argument, but now tears flowed freely and sobs came croaking from her throat. She walked towards the mysterious beyond, considering making her father's wish come true.

* * *

The next morning Littlefoot started with his regular routine, walking over to the secret watering hole where he and friends have eaten breakfast together for years. This time though things were a little different. Besides the obvious absence of Cera, something that wasn't overly unusual, Spike, Petrie and Ducky weren't eating, they were just staring at Littlefoot, anger in their faces.

"Uhhh… Hey guys" Littlefoot cautiously said, unsure of what was wrong. "You and Cera were in a relationship and neither of you told us!" Ducky finally blurted out, obviously annoyed. "Why didn't you trust us?" Petrie added, demonstrating the increase in maturity his speaking skills have experience in the past few years. Spike's contribution to the conversation was just a strange grumbling sound, which actually relived Littlefoot. Spike was speaking with increasing frequency as time went on but he still waited until he had something incredibly important to say before he opened his mouth. The fact that this situation did not register with Spike as important enough to gift his raspy voice onto his friends was a good sign for Littlefoot.

"We do trust you! We were going to tell you everything but then Luca showed up and we didn't get the chance. I promise we were going to tell you guys." Littlefoot pleaded with his friends. He needed to have somebody on his side. Ducky sighed, "I guess". "Thanks guy-" Littlefoot couldn't finish his sentence because the wind was knocked right out of his lungs.

* * *

Cera's eyes opened and she saw the light of the bright circle illuminating everything around her. Than the pain came, the most excruciating pain she had ever experienced. Cera screamed at the top of her lungs, just wanting to escape her world of agony. Unfortunately the only result of the scream was a fresh wave of pain, one that forced her to slip back into unconsciousness.

* * *

Littlefoot was flying through the air, confused as to how he got there. He realized something had hit him, hard, but he had no idea what. Suddenly Littlefoot's new found flight skills came to a sickening stop as he slammed into a tree. Littlefoot heard the large crack of a broken rib and then the searing pain of something stabbing him in the side. He fell to the ground and his long neck slung his head into the dirt, threatening to knock him out. Littlefoot shook his head, fighting the darkness that entered his vision. He slowly got up to his feet, ignoring the broken rib that was slicing the flesh in his chest cavity, and turned to face his attacker.

Standing on the spot where Littlefoot had taken off on his rib-cracking flight was Topsy, and he did not seem happy. Cera's father was set up for a charge. He held his body low to the ground, knees bent, storing energy, the front of his paws dug more into the ground than the back so that most of the normal force would propel him forward instead of up. His head was lowered, aiming his three razor sharp horns right at Littlefoot. If any of those horns were to pierce the long neck in his belly, chest or side, Littlefoot would be done.

Littlefoot knew it would be pointless to fight back. As much as he hated to admit it he couldn't even win a fight against Cera, and her father was considerably larger. "Please, sir, don't do this." Littlefoot pleaded, unsure of what to do. "You have poisoned my daughter's mind and tarnished my family's name, and now you will pay" Topsy yelled, shaking with anger. He started to bound forward, picking up speed as he went. Spike, Ducky and Petrie stood frozen in fear, unable to help their friend. Littlefoot shut his eyes and braced for the impact, waiting for the end to come, but it didn't.

"Stop!" Littlefoot heard a small feminine voice call out in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw Tricia standing between him and her father. The young three horn looked much like a miniature version of her sister. She had the same body shape and form, but her eyebrow horns were not yet visible, and she was roughly half Cera's size. She was a dark pink with a pale belly and was still far from her teenaged graying. Then again her mother, Cera's stepmother, was one of the few three horns who never end up graying out, so Tricia could stay pink for the rest of her life.

Despite her small size and innocent color patterns she was surprisingly forceful when she had yelled stop. At the sight of his youngest daughter yelling at him, Topsy firmly planted his heals into the soft dirt, bleeding off the massive amount of momentum his enormous size had provided. He eventually skidded to a halt a few feet in front of Littlefoot and Tricia and stared down at his daughter, his face still clearly showing his anger. Usually just the sight of his youngest was enough to put Topsy out of any foul mood, but the three horn had never been this pissed off in his life.

"Get out of the way Tricia" Topsy said firmly to his daughter. "No daddy! What is wrong with you?" Tricia yelled back, tears now flowing from her eyes. Topsy's face softened slightly, but the anger was still there. "Tricia, please." He pleaded with his daughter.

"Topsy Three Horn, what do you think you are doing?" came a familiar voice from behind Topsy. Walking from the woods was Cera's stepmother, Tria. Tria was a fully mature three horn, a little smaller than Topsy, who had a dark pink color very similar to her daughters. Her belly was paler than the rest of her body, as with most dinosaurs.

"Did you know Tricia overheard your argument with Cera last night?" Tria continued, obviously annoyed. Shock crossed Topsy's face, "I didn't know-" "What you don't know is how to handle this situation correctly. Who cares if Cera is in a relationship with a long neck? I know where you come from, where we come from, and it was a place of prejudice where killing for this sort of thing was the norm. But we have come a long way since then, we don't wake up every morning wondering if we're seeing our last sunrise. These children live peacefully in a valley filled with dinosaurs of other species their age. It is understandable that some could fall in love with each other, and no, it's not the most popular thing, but you're the only one taking it to such an extreme. You have hurt this poor little long neck and you have hurt your own daughter's feelings and now you're going to come with me and find her so you can apologize." Tria finally finished.

Topsy's face melted, the anger completely gone. The transition actually amazed Littlefoot. He was awed at the fact that Tria could get Topsy to calm down so easily, it was an amazing accomplishment. But instead of guilt and embarrassment, horror now stretched across Topsy's face. "You mean she didn't come to you last night?" he said slowly, his voice full of fear. "No, but she's ran away before, why are you so concerned this time?" Tria responded obviously concerned by Topy's fear. "Well… I may have said… that I wish she would go the mysterious beyond…and die…" Topsy responded like a little child that has done something wrong.

A collective gasp came from the dinosaurs in the clearing. Littlefoot couldn't believe what Topsy had done to his daughter, it was just wrong on so many levels. Tria was starting to shake with anger, an emotion Littlefoot had never seen the three horn go through before. "Ok, I am so mad right now I can't even think straight. I will deal with you later, but please tell me why you are so worried because of this." Tria said in a seemingly calm voice, in reality though it was thinly veiled anger; Littlefoot concluded that Tria was trying to spare Tricia from having to see her parents fight anymore. "I'm afraid she might try and fulfill my wish" Topsy responded quietly.

"No"

* * *

Littlefoot was running full speed to keep up with the rest of them, ignoring the sharp pain in the side. He had already told Topsy and Tria about the secret entrance to the Great Valley and they had decided Cera left through there and not the main entrance where the on duty guard would have seen her. Littlefoot couldn't think straight, he didn't want to think straight, the implications were too big. An outsider would think that Cera hated her father but in reality the exact opposite was true. She strived for her father's acceptance, his love, but Topsy was not an easy three horn to please.

The pain in Littlefoot's side began to subside. At first it seemed like a blessing but Littlefoot knew the truth, the adrenaline pumping through his veins was blocking the pain, damage was still being done and Littlefoot would feel it later. He didn't care though, Cera could be hurt, or worse, and he had to get to her.

Petrie was in the lead and he burst through a bush that seemed to be sitting in front of a solid rock wall. This bush was actually the entrance to the secret passageway in and out of the valley that Littlefoot and his friends had found a couple years ago. Littlefoot already knew what to expect. The small cave that ran through the ridge surrounding the valley lead out to tiny plateau with a shear drop directly opposite of the valley, in order to get down the gang always had to take a gently sloping ramp to the right.

Petrie had turned right immediately after exiting the cave out of habit, and the rest followed him, except for Littlefoot. He ran straight to the edge a couple yards away and looked down, praying not to see what he knew was there. His heart sank.

Several yards below him was the sprawled form of a three horn. "Cera!" Littlefoot yelled out in desperation, but the dinosaur lying on the floor below him didn't move. Littlefoot looked back at the others who were running down the ramp at full speed. He then looked to his left, there was a spot that wasn't a shear drop, it was still dangerously steep but Littlefoot felt he could make it.

He shifted his weight down and back, storing the energy in his knees as if they were springs. He then straightened his legs unleashing the stored force and sending him into the air. Littlefoot landed on the sloping edge and felt a jolt of pain as the shock ran up his body and caused his broken rib to stab further into his gut. The moment of fresh pain made Littlefoot lose focus, slip, and begin tumbling down the steep slope.

Littlefoot finally came to a stop. He lifted his head with a groan and looked at Cera lying next to him. He felt a wave of nausea and quickly turned away forcing himself to swallow the bile rising in his throat. He didn't want anyone to know sickly he felt from the site of Cera's body.

She was lying on her left side in a small pool of her own blood; the dirt was stained with it. Her right hind leg was bent at an unnatural angle and Littlefoot could see the bone sticking out from under the skin. Other than the leg, and what must be some gash underneath her that was the source of the blood, she actually didn't look too bad. That was until Littlefoot noticed that her chest wasn't moving.

The long neck scrambled to his feet and nearly fell again from a new jolt of pain. He looked down at his side and saw his milky white rib just starting to poke out from underneath the skin. He ignored it and hobbled over to Cera's head, leaning in listening to see if she was breathing. She wasn't.

Tears began to fill Littlefoot's eyes, but instead of grief Littlefoot felt himself become overcome with anger, anger at Cera. Littlefoot started beating the three horn's chest in frustration. Topsy, Tria, Spike, Ducky and Petrie arrived and stood in silence watching the pathetic scene in front of them. But the punishment Littlefoot was dealing to Cera's body was a blessing in disguise. The repeated concussion on the three horn's chest triggered a coughing reflex. Cera let out a cough and a large glob of congealed blood came out with it. After a large, gasping breath Cera began to breathe again.

The three horn looked up at Littlefoot, "Hey" she managed to croak. Littlefoot couldn't help but smile from the relief he was feeling. "You're an idiot, you know that right?" he replied back to her. "Ha, ya, I know" Cera said before closing her eyes and slipping back into unconsciousness.

"She's alive" Littlefoot said to the others as they gathered around Cera. "Let's get her to The Healer" He added. "I think we need to get you The Healer, we do, we do" Ducky said. "What? I'm fine" Littlefoot responded, trying to shrug off Ducky's concern. "Littlefoot, look down" Petrie added to the conversation. Littlefoot did look down and saw the pool of his own blood that was slowly growing in size. _I completely forgot about my rib_ was the last thing Littlefoot thought before his world turned black.

* * *

Littlefoot groaned and slowly opened his eyes. For a few seconds he lay on the ground in relative comfort, some sort of moss acting as a cushion beneath him, but the pain soon came. He tried to hold it back, but a gasp escaped his mouth alerting the large big mouth in front of him.

The big mouth was only known by her title, The Healer. She had shown up at the Great Valley a couple years ago with an amazing knowledge of dinosaur biology and the healing powers of various plants. She was quite and kept to herself, completely ignoring any non medical questions or conversation. But if someone was hurt she would do her best to help them without asking for anything in return.

"It may have felt like the rib had broken off completely and made a fairly large mess in your chest but it wasn't nearly that bad. It only partially cracked and moved just enough to stick out from the skin. I've pushed it back into place and you should be fine in a couple weeks" was all The Healer had to say before turning away. "Wait! What about Cera?" Littlefoot called back to her. "She's alive" The Healer responded before walking behind a boulder and out of sight.

Littlefoot examined his surrounding and recognized where he was. The Healer made her nest in a small clearing surrounded by six spaces enclosed by boulders and dense vegetation. The enclosed spaces were used as patient rooms and gave the sick some privacy while they recuperated. Littlefoot recognized this space in particular; he was treated in the same patient clearing when he had received his semi-circle scar a little more than a year ago.

The long neck turned to look at the damage on his own person but realizes the wound isn't visible. The Healer had rapped Littlefoot's body with several enormous leaves, held in place by vines, that was pasted in a thick sticky resin. The resin was hard and made the leaves rigid. This prevented Littlefoot's chest from moving too much when breathed or walked around so the broken rib would stay in place and heal. The long neck gingerly rose to his feet and began to walk around, to his relief he no longer experienced the sensation of a knife moving through his chest. He slowly walked over to the next patient clearing, the one The Healer had walked over to, and gazed at the scene before him.

Right next to him were two small piles of a dense sponge-like moss used as bandaging in larger gashes. One pile contained fresh unused moss, while the other was soaked in blood. In the middle of the clearing was Cera, lying on a bed of moss similar to the one Littlefoot woke up on. She was unconscious, but breathing. A short but thick piece of wood was tied to her broken leg, keeping it immobile. A leaf and resin setup, similar to Littlefoot's, was wrapped around her body, stopping the bleeding from the large gash Littlefoot knew she had.

There were two other dinosaurs in the clearing. The Healer stood on the far side by a tree, her body obscuring whatever she was working on. Cera's only other visitor at the moment was her sister Tricia. The little three horn was curled up next to her older sister sleeping gently. As Littlefoot slowly moved closer Tricia woke up. She looked up at the long neck and her tail began to wag energetically.

Tricia expressed herself through her tail. It wagged when she was happy, stood at attention when she was scared, and drooped when she was sad. If she was an artist, her tail was her brush. It moved in beat with her voice when she talked or sang, and she sang quite often. It was as important as any facial expression when determining her emotions, and right now it was telling Littlefoot that she was happy to see him.

"Hey Littlefoot!" she said with no evidence of her sister's dire condition in her voice. "Hey" Littlefoot responded with a slightly somber tone after watching Tricia's tail make a unique movement for each syllable either dinosaur uttered. "The Healer said Cera going to be okay" Tricia happily announced while looking down upon her older sister. "She will be fine in a few weeks, if she wakes up" The Healer interrupted from the background. "If she wakes up?" Littlefoot inquired. "They sometimes don't" The Healer finished before walking out of the clearing.

Tricia seemed to ignore the comment and continue staring at her sister. "Clumsy Cera, I can't believe she fell off a cliff like that" she said. Littlefoot's heart sank a little. Obviously nobody had told her the truth. It was actually expected, she was too young to understand suicide, plus the shock that her sister wanted to kill herself would have been too much for the young three horn.

Littlefoot looked at Cera's sleeping form. The love he had felt just the day before wasn't there anymore. Instead all Littlefoot could feel was disgust. She had acted like a coward, taking the easy way out of her problems. But Littlefoot didn't like feeling this way. He wanted to love her again, so he pointed his anger at someone else. "Luca" Littlefoot muttered, his teeth clenched in anger.

* * *

Littlefoot found Luca munching on some treestars by the river. He wanted to make a dramatic entrance, pushing Luca around, but unfortunately for Littlefoot the three horn had several hundred pounds of extra mass on him. "You see what you've done? She tried to kill herself!" he yelled at Luca from a safe distance. "Yes, pathetic isn't it?" Luca responded without so much as pausing during his feeding. "No, it-" but Littlefoot was interrupted, "Yes, would be the correct answer. You came to me because you want to blame me, but it's not my fault. What I did may have been a little wrong, it's debatable, but her reaction, and the reaction of her father, was completely out of my control" Luca finished, his attention now fully focused on Littlefoot.

Littlefoot knew it was the truth, and it stung. As much as hated himself for feeling this way, he wanted nothing to do with Cera or her father. He just wanted to get away. "When do we leave again?" he asked. Luca smiled, "Look up". Littlefoot followed Luca's order and saw a black circle slowly covering up the sun.

"We go now" Luca said. "But my ribs" Littlefoot responded. "We'll go slowly, you'll heal in time" the three horn responded, shrugging off the long neck's concern. "I have one question before we leave, why did we wait for the bright circle to turn black before going? We could have left earlier and given ourselves more time" Littlefoot asked his new travelling partner. The three horn stopped for a second, than continued walking. _I guess he's not going to answer that question either_.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

" 'I lose my temper, but it's all over in a minute,' said the student. 'So is the Hydrogen bomb,' I replied. 'But think of the damage it produces!' "

-George Sweeting

Hope you liked that little quote, thought it summed up the chapter pretty well. Please review!


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The Worst Of Times

Stoneclaw gazed in fear as the sun disappeared behind a massive black circle in the sky. The D-chew entered a panic and threw himself to the ground, mumbling in the sharptooth language, praying for mercy. Sharpteeth are a superstitious group, especially those that live in the east. They have a complicated belief system filled with many different gods and stories, but it is very disorganized. In fact, there are so many different versions of stories that each individual essentially has his or her own religion. Unfortunately for Stoneclaw, his own religion contained no story about eclipses, so his only reaction to the unfamiliar event was to cower in fear.

After a few moments the D-chew looked back up to the sky and saw that the black circle was continuing on its path, allowing the sun to shine again. Stoneclaw got back to his feet and composed himself. He took a quick, darting look around to ensure no one had witnessed his pathetic display before resuming his journey. The D-chew was growing closer to the Great Valley, he knew he would come upon it anytime. Sure enough, after ten minutes more travel the dinosaur saw the main entrance to the valley in the distance.

Stoneclaw paused for a minute, considering his next move. He couldn't just walk through the front entrance after all. As he stood contemplating the problem he heard voices growing closer. Stoneclaw quickly ducked behind a nearby boulder, taking extra caution not to make any noise. He then poked his head out from behind the rock and took a look at the two dinosaurs walking by.

"I don't understand why she did it" a young long neck with a crimson back said to his travelling partner. The other dinosaur, a large but not yet adult three horn, sighed. "Listen, I really don't care, you go crying to your mommy if you want to discuss things like that" the three horn responded. A look of hurt flashed across the long neck's face before he angrily retorted, "My mother died saving me and Cera from a sharptooth". "Oh, and what? You think that guilt tripping me will get me to discuss your emotions with you?" the three horn mocked the long neck. "Everybody has a sob story!" he muttered to himself.

_Wow_ thought Stoneclaw _Do these two love each other or what?_ "Faster! I don't care about your rib, we only have so long to get to the birthing cave" the three horn yelled to the now clearly defeated long neck behind him. _Birthing cave!_ Stoneclaw knew then that he had found the dinosaurs he was looking for, now he just needed some help to take them down. The D-chew waited for the three horn and long neck to move a good distance away and then took off into the mysterious beyond.

* * *

Ducky was staring at the insides of her eyelids when Petrie's voice caused her to come back to reality from her day dreams. "Cera took this a little far don't you think?" the flyer asked. Ducky and Petrie were lying on Spike, who was peacefully sleeping by the still unconscious Cera. "I already told you, I am not sure what to think until Cera wakes up" the big mouth responded with no obvious sign of annoyance. Ducky was not one to get easily annoyed with her friends. "Well your wait is over" came a familiar voice. "Cera!" Ducky and Petrie yelled in unison as they saw their friend open her eyes. Even Spike added a mild groan to signify his joy.

"Ya, ya, ya, don't get all gushy on me" Cera responded in her usual cheerful tone. Spike jumped up and ran over to the three horn, giving her a massive lick on the cheek. "Hey! That hurt!" Cera yelped in pain. "Yes, well you deserve it, you do, you do" Ducky chided. "Why do I deserve it? I didn't do anything wrong" Cera defended yourself. The three horn seemed to have an honest reaction, but Ducky did not trust it. "Cera, we know you tried to kill yourself" Petrie related the harsh truth.

Cera's jaw dropped, a look of pure shock crossed her face. "What? I didn't do that!" she yelled at her friends, visibly furious. "Cera" came a less familiar voice. Ducky, Petrie and Cera all turned in mild surprise to Spike. "We are your friends, we will believe what you say, just tell us the truth" the spike tail continued. Cera calmed down a little bit at the unexpected sound of Spike's voice. "I didn't try and kill myself, I fell, I'm just not sure how. I don't really remember much of it" the three horn finally explained.

Ducky wanted to believe her friend, but she was still skeptical. She was not going to believe Cera's story as easily as Spike was. "Where's Littlefoot? He'll believe me" Cera finally stated after realizing that Ducky and Petrie were probably not as trusting as the spike tail. Ducky felt her heart sink; she knew the news would crush Cera. "Littlefoot was seen leaving the valley with Luca" she finally said after a long, uncomfortable pause.

The big mouth watched as what little strength Cera seemed to have gained since waking left her. The three horn's head fell to the floor so quickly it looked as if she had been struck. Ducky could only imagine the sense of abandonment the three horn was feeling right now. She knew Cera seemed like a tough tomboy at first glance, but underneath her tough hide was a very sensitive and insecure young girl.

Tears came to Cera's eyes as she tried to croak out her next sentence, "Why did he leave me?" was all she could manage to utter. Ducky felt horrible for her friend, but she could not think of anything to say that would make the three horn feel better. "Go away, I want to be alone" Cera said, turning her body away to hide her tears. "But Cera-" Ducky started but was interrupted, "I said go away!". Ducky, Petrie and Spike followed the dinosaur's request and left the clearing. The big mouth lingered for a moment, desperately trying to think of a way to cheer Cera up, but was forced to leave defeated.

* * *

Stoneclaw cautiously walked through the dark ravine. _Why do I always get stuck doing this stuff_ the D-chew thought to himself. The ravine was home to one of the most infamous Sharpteeth in the Void, which is the more formal name for the mysterious beyond. The infamous Comis was a Utahraptor, the last Utahraptor Stoneclaw knew of. The D-chew was no historian so he knew little about the reasons for the disappearance of the Utahraptors, but he did know that his master, commonly referred to only as "him", had a hand in their destruction.

Stoneclaw was broken out of his train of thought as he bumped into something soft and feathered while rounding a corner. The D-chew gulped and looked up into the angry face of creature twice his size. He knew instantly that he had just walked into Comis.

"Explain to me why I shouldn't kill you where you stand" Comis said in a feminine voice. "You're a female?" Stoneclaw responded in what was close to disgust, forgetting how dangerous a situation he was in. "Ugh" the Utahraptor grunted as she turned and slowly walked away, her desire to hurt the unwelcomed guest obviously gone. "Why is it so hard for everybody to believe that I'm female?" she muttered to herself as Stoneclaw began to follow. "Just tell me what you want so I can get on with my life." The Utahraptor finally said to her new shadow.

"I'm here to ask for your help in getting rid of two young flatteeth" Stoneclaw said. "Why should I help you?" Comis snapped, becoming visibly irritated by the D-chew's presence.

"Because it is required by my master that this be done" Stoneclaw replied.

"And who is your master?"

"Him"

Comis stopped at the pronoun. In a flash Stoneclaw found himself flying through the air, propelled by the swift kick he had just received from the Utahraptor. The D-chew slammed into the stone wall and fell to the ground. Before he could even consider standing up he felt a heavy weight pushing down on him, it was Comis' foot. Stoneclaw looked up to his attacker and prepared for the end, but instead of finishing the dinosaur, Comis began to speak.

"And what, may I ask, makes you think I would want to work for that bastard!" she screamed into Stoneclaw's face. "Because your life depends on it" the D-chew managed to gasp. Comis threw her head into the air and let out a maniacal laugh before responding, "My life depends on it? How? A pathetic little D-chew like you was supposed to end it?". "No, He has a plan to destroy Animus and it will work with or without your help. That means His forces will control the Void, and He will finish what he started by killing you, unless you have aided him in some way. He may show you mercy" Stoneclaw finished.

Comis lifted her leg off of the fallen D-chew and took a step back to allow the dinosaur to get back on its feet. "I'll help you, but not for that bastard's mercy, I have my own reasons" the Utahraptor finally said after a few moments had passed. "Perfect, follow me" Stoneclaw responded turning to leave. Comis waited for the D-chew to move out of earshot before muttering "Idiot".

* * *

"Stop! I need to rest" Littlefoot called after Lucas. The three horn let out an angry grunt, _him and his stupid rib!_ "Fine, a quick one though, we're approaching the Fringe" he responded. "The Fringe?" Littlefoot asked Luca. "It's and strip of habitable land between the Void, which is the place you know as the mysterious beyond, and Animus" Luca responded, slightly annoyed by the longneck's ignorance. "You mean there's another place with dinosaurs?" Littlefoot said mystified. "Listen up longneck, I'm going to give you a little lesson and I'm only going to give it to you once. The world, or at least the world I know of, can be split up into five rather simply named regions; They are the Middle Land, the Northern Mountains, the Southern Lands, the Eastern Lands, and everywhere else."

"The Middle Lands is the place you know best. In the Middle lands you have the Void, which stretches from the Big Water in the west to the Fringe in the east. It is made up of what you know as the Mysterious Beyond and although there are other green areas in it the Great Valley is the highlight of that hell hole. East of the Void you have the Fringe, its green but its filled with rough characters, not a fun place to live either. Then you have Animus, east of the Fringe, and finally you have what is known as the Sharptooth Forest. That's where the gang of Sharpteeth who stole the egg live."

"The Northern Mountains are as their name suggests, a mountain range north of the Middle Lands. It's populated almost entirely by flyers. They live in a large number of different tribes they call squadrons. These squadrons constantly fight with each other, conquering a new stretch of mountain only to lose it the next day."

"The Southern Lands are south of the Middle Lands and was once home of the largest dinosaur nation that ever existed. About fifty cold times ago a civil war broke out and the nation fell apart. For over forty cold times they fought amongst themselves until they could fight no longer. There is peace there, for now, but the Southern Lands has been split into several smaller nations."

"The Eastern Lands are the most fearsome of all. It is a large landscape covered by plains, only to be broken up by the occasional forest or small mountain range. There, massive armies made up of a single species constantly fight each other, trying to press their genocidal agenda. The battles they have are nothing short of epic and are probably amazing to watch, you just don't want to be in them."

"Everywhere else is exactly that, everywhere else on this world. I know nothing about it and I don't plan to learn. So long neck, are your questions satisfied?" Luca finally finished his speech. "What's a nation?" Littlefoot asked after a moment of silence. Luca's only response was to start beating his forehead on a rock next to him.

* * *

"She's your daughter, you have to go talk to her" Tria said while staring up at a dark form lying on hill she knew to be Cera. "But-" Topsy began but was quickly cut off by Tria. "No buts, you hurt her and now you have to apologize. Then you need to try and make her feel better about Littlefoot running off" she said with a slight tone of annoyance. "But I'm happy he's gone, it's what I wanted all along" Topsy replied. "Don't you get it? This isn't about what YOU want, it's about what she wants" Tria finished while glancing back at her stepdaughter.

"Ugh, fine" Topsy sighed in defeat as he turned and began walking towards the young three horn on the hill. A few days had passed since Cera's fall and she was making a steady recovery. With a little assistance she could move around, as long as she was careful not to put any weight on her broken leg. It would be awhile before any long journeys. She hadn't said a word to anybody since she had learned that Littlefoot had left with Luca. The three horn just sat on the same spot all day. It was no secret what she was looking at though, her hill had a perfect view of the valley's main entrance.

Topsy reached the top of the hill and stood next to his daughter. After a long pause he said "Cera, I…" but quickly trailed off. The three horn took another few moments to compose himself before continuing.

"Cera, I overreacted a little bit the other day-"

"A little bit?" Cera said, speaking her first words in days.

"Ok, I overreacted a lot, and I'm sorry"

"I didn't try and kill myself"

"I really don't care what happened that day Cera. I love you; you're my daughter, the last connection to my old life before the valley. Every time I look into your face a see your mother, you're a lot like her you know." Topsy said as he moved closer to his daughter, holding his head protectively over her. "What happened to mommy?" Cera asked looking up to her father. "I've told you before, we got separated" Topsy responded, a little confused as to why Cera had asked a question he had answered several times. "You're lying, I've know that was a lie for years now. You know exactly what happened to her" Cera said bluntly.

Topsy sighed, she was right, he had been lying to her all these years. It was about time she learned the truth. "When we were searching for the Great Valley we knew that Pterno was going to leave with a part of the herd long before it actually happened. Your mother wanted us to go with him, she had fallen for his lies. The night before they left your mother and I… had an argument. We were away from the main herd during it, to keep the fight private, but… it was a mistake. A group of Sharpteeth attacked us. I tried to hold them off for as long as possible, but by the time the others had arrived to help us, it was too late" Topsy finished.

"She's dead?" Cera asked in a small voice. "Yes, and your sisters, they were with us at the time" Topsy answered with a tone of defeat. "I had nothing left, I thought my entire family was gone. But then I found you, and that's why you're so important to me. I did what I thought was best for you the other day, but…I guess what I think is right is sometimes wrong"

Topsy watched as his daughter considered everything he had just said. He knew what he had just revealed to her would be difficult, and in combination with the apology the young three horn would have to sort through a complicated mess of emotions. "I forgive you" Cera finally said after a long pause. She reached up and nuzzled her father who returned the gesture. "If you want to be with that flat-, Littlefoot, its fine with me" Topsy said. Cera glanced back at the valley entrance and responded "I don't know what I'm going to do with him".

* * *

Littlefoot was starting to find it less difficult to think again. Ever since he had left the valley he had been in a haze, unable to organize his thoughts. Between the long neck's emotions on what Cera had done, the constant dull pain from his healing rib, and the intolerable heat, Littlefoot had been forced to concentrate on just getting his legs to move. But just as his ability to interpret the events of the past few days began to return, he wished he could forget them.

What he had done to Cera was horrible, and he realized that, but he was not planning on turning back. He would have to face the consequences for what he did from Cera, and from himself, but he decided that he might as well finish what he came out here to do. As these thoughts went through the long neck's head he began to realize something else, he might not love Cera as much as he thought he did. He considered that the relationship may have been a mistake, that Cera was simply someone he had fallen back on in a moment of weakness.

Littlefoot did not have more time to consider this as his concentration was broken after running into the now stopped Luca. "What's wrong?" the long neck asked. "Quiet" was the only response he received from the three horn. "We're not alone" Luca added in a whisper a moment latter. Suddenly Littlefoot saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head towards the disturbance and saw a small brown, feathered creature running towards him at full speed. The long neck tensed his muscles, pulling back his tail to take on the threat, but it was unnecessary. In a flash another brown feathered creature, twice the size of the first, took down the original. The smaller sharptooth hissed something up to other before having its throat cut, blood pouring on the ground beside it.

"I'm sorry if that frightened you" the remaining sharptooth said after looking up from his kill. "A Utahraptor? I thought you were all dead" Luca responded, still tense with obvious distrust. "Not quite, and you can relax, I have no designs to harm either of you. You're going to stop Him for me, so that makes us on the same side" said the Utahraptor. "I'm never on the same side as a sharptooth" Luca snapped back. "Hm, you don't seem very grateful, I only saved your life after all. It does not matter, my job is done." the sharptooth finished before turning to leave.

"Hold on, what's your name?" Littlefoot called after her. "My real name is none of your business, but most know me as Comis" the sharptooth responded. "Well, Comis, your scar is identical to mine" Littlefoot said. "Scar?" Comis said quizzically before adding "Oh, yes. Very observant of you, that scar is so well hidden most don't usually notice it". The Utahraptor looked down at her right arm, staring at the scar that was partially hidden by feathers. "Your rude friend here has it as well" Comis said, gesturing to Luca. All three dinosaurs looked at each other, lost in thought about the strange coincidence. "I suppose that means we will meet again one day, till than" Comis turned and left. Littlefoot turned to Luca who returned the glance. "This is one bizarre world".

* * *

Ducky, Petrie and Spike were eating their breakfast at their usual spot, but Ducky felt it just wasn't the same without Cera and Littlefoot. Cera was next to unapproachable, simply sitting on her hill all day, and there was still no sign of Littlefoot anywhere. The big mouth simply did not know what to do besides trying to live life as normally as possible. Their silent breakfast was soon disturbed though.

"We need to find him" came a small feminine voice from the river bank. Ducky, Petrie and Spike turned to see Tricia standing in their clearing. "We need to find who?" Petrie asked the young three horn. "Littlefoot, my sister can't do anything with her leg, so I'm going to find him, and you all are coming with me" she responded firmly. Ducky glanced at Tricia's tail, the young three horn's main indicator of mood, and saw that it was straight and stiff. She was being completely serious.

"It's not that simple Tricia, we can't just go running off" Ducky said, trying to talk the three horn out it. "What do you mean, you guys always used to run off into the mysterious beyond for the simplest reasons. Why not now?" she asked in a pleading voice. Ducky knew she wasn't going to be able to talk Tricia out of her idea, so the big mouth went with another approach. "We have no idea where Animus is, how could we ever find him?" Ducky asked. "We know it's somewhere east of here, so let's head east and figure it out from there" Tricia responded in a much firmer voice, she was not going to budge. Ducky sighed, "Fine, off we go again" she said in a defeated voice.

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"Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional"

-Hindu Spiritual


	6. Chapter 5

Its been a looooooong time. But I've finally taken this story off the back burner and have gone back to work. You all can thank CT.

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Chapter 5:

The Witness

Littlefoot was standing in a clearing during a warm sunny day. He did not know how he had gotten there or where he even was, but for some reason this did not really bother him. Suddenly the long neck noticed a very old looking spike tail was standing next to him, he was unsure if the dinosaur had just appeared or if it was always there.

"I'm sorry to say this child, but a lot is going to be asked of you" the spike tail, now obviously a female, said. "What is that supposed to mean?" Littlefoot asked bewildered. "Watch" the spike tail said as she looked down at a lizard scurrying by her feet. The spike tail lifted her foot and brought it down quickly on the lizard's tail, trapping it. The lizard struggled, trying to get free, but it was useless. The small creature than switched to what Littlefoot felt was the most bizarre strategy he had ever seen. The lizard began spinning its body, going faster and faster until finally its tail came clean off. The creature, now tailless, then ran into a hole, not to be seen again.

"The lizard sacrificed its tail to save its life. Sometimes we have to give up things we don't want to, in order to do what is necessary" the spike tail said after the ordeal was over. "Okay, but did you have to do that? That was kinda cruel" Littlefoot responded. "Its tail will grow back, don't concern yourself with that. Losing its tail was a small sacrifice, but some sacrifices are much larger. And you, Littlefoot, will have to give up what is most important to you" the spike tail said in its quivering voice.

"What is it?" Littlefoot asked, concerned about what was expected of him. The spike tail smiled. "You're destined for great things, just don't lose track of what is important. In the end you will be rewarded, if your work isn't reward enough" the dinosaur finally answered after a long pause. The world began to get blurry and dark, the spike tail fading into the distance. "Wait! I want to know more!" Littlefoot called out in desperation. "Nobody can know everything, we can only guess" were the spike tail's last words before Littlefoot woke from his slumber.

* * *

Littlefoot was deep in thought about his dream the previous night when he suddenly found himself gazing at the scene before him. He was standing at the edge of a large clearing with a river winding through the middle. The clearing was filled with dinosaurs of all kinds; eating, drinking and sleeping. They were all fully grown and had obviously been through rough lives, most bearing a scar or two to prove it.

"This is a place where those who live in the Void come to rest" Luca said after noticing Littlefoot's expression. "We're getting near Animus, so we'll stay here tonight. Go have a look around, just try not to get on anyone's bad side" the three horn warned before walking off. Littlefoot watched him go before heading straight for the nearest river bank.

Littlefoot was slowly lapping up water from the river when a rock he was bracing his front right leg on slipped into the water. This caused the long neck to bump into a club tail next him while trying to regain his balance. "Hey! Watch it kid!" the club tail grunted angrily. "Sorry sir, it was an accident" Littlefoot responded submissively. "You better be. Your kinda young to be here aren't you? Where you from?" the irritated dinosaur asked. "The Great Valley" Littlefoot responded. "Figures" was all the club tail had to say before walking away.

"What was his problem?" Littlefoot asked himself before turning back to his drink. Unfortunately it was interrupted again as Littlefoot felt someone gently bite and tug his tail. "What are doing!" the long neck yelled as he turned around to face the person who had bite him. He was now face to face with a young female long neck who was wearing had a small devilish smile. Littlefoot gazed into the dinosaurs light blue eyes and could have sworn he had seen them before.

"Ali?" Littlefoot finally asked after the sudden realization had hit him. Ali nodded vigorously in response. The two leaned and shared a friendly nuzzle before Littlefoot continued, "What are you doing here?". "What do you mean, what am I doing here? I live in the mysterious beyond silly, the better question is what are you doing here?" Ali responded. "It's a long story, but let's not worry about that now, I'm just glad to see you" Littlefoot said. "Ya, me too. Come on, let's find somewhere quite to talk" Ali responded before turning away and leading Littlefoot out of the clearing.

* * *

"Don't bite off more than you can chew long neck" Luca muttered to himself as he watched Littlefoot follow a female long neck out of the clearing. "You know that long neck?" asked yet another long neck standing within earshot of Luca. "Ya, his name's Littlefoot" Luca responded, realizing a bit too late that revealing that information may not have been a good idea. "Great" muttered the long neck, obviously upset by the news.

Luca wasn't happy about this longneck's interest in Littlefoot. "Do you know him?" he asked. "Kinda, I know the girl he's with" the long neck responded. Luca was worried that this could cause problems, it was difficult enough getting Littlefoot away from Cera. "Who are you?" he asked. "My name's Rhett, I've been travelling with Ali, the girl long neck, since I was young" Rhett answered. "Well go get Hailey and leave us alone" Luca quickly snapped as he turned to walk away. "Ali, not Hailey" Rhett called after the three horn. "Like I care" Luca muttered as he walked off in the same direction Littlefoot and Ali where headed.

* * *

"Ducky, can I ask you a question?" Tricia said to the big mouth riding on her back. The two, along with Petrie and Spike, had snuck out of the Great Valley and began their journey east in search of Animus. Ducky was still unsure about the whole journey. She understood how Tricia felt that finding Littlefoot would help Cera, but Ducky felt that leaving Cera behind by herself was potentially more damaging.

"Yep, yep, yep, of course you can Tricia" the big mouth responded. "Why is Cera in love with Littlefoot?" Tricia asked. Ducky paused; it wasn't really a question she could answer. She wasn't even sure Cera or Littlefoot could answer it. Tricia was still young so Ducky understood how she could seem naïve. "It's not that simple, love… just happens" Ducky finally replied. "But a long neck?" Tricia immediately blurted out while staring at the dirt being kicked up in front of her. Ducky cringed at the comment. Tricia was living a slightly more normal childhood than Cera had, since Tria was balancing out Topsey's insanity, but her father's influence was still obvious.

"I don't know Tricia" Ducky responded, wanting to end the conversation. "You can ask Cera when we get back to the Great Valley" She finished. Tricia fell silent and they spent the next few minutes without saying a word. "Have you ever been in love?" Tricia said, breaking the silence. "I'm going to walk with Spike" the big mouth responded.

* * *

"They just left me here, all alone!" Cera yelled at herself as she limped along through the jungle. "And my leg is so itchy!" she cried out in frustration, throwing herself to the ground and digging her horn under the leaves, trying to reach the itch. She scratched furiously again and again until she felt a sharp jolt of pain. "Ouch!" the three horn yelped and saw a tiny trickle of red. "A little too hard" she muttered to herself.

There was sharp crack and Cera froze, quickly glancing to the forest behind her. "Hey Chomper" she said as she turned her attention back to her leg. The sharptooth climbed out from the foliage and walked up to Cera lying on the ground. "How did you know it was me?" he asked. "The smell mostly" she replied looking up at Chomper. Cera was a little amazed by how much he had grown, she wasn't too sure she could win a fight with him anymore. "Oh" he responded in a slightly defeated tone.

"Where did you go anyway?" Cera asked, wondering where the sharptooth had been since the day Luca had shown up. "I had…some stuff to do" Chomper replied, not doing a very good job at dodging the question. Cera stared into space, losing focus on the conversation when a thought came to her. "Chomper, do you know where Animus is?" She asked. "Yeah, why?" he responded. Cera jumped to her feet in excitement, realizing a little too late how much pain that would cause. "Can you take me there?" she asked, ignoring the fresh shot of pain. "Okay, but its kinda far, are you sure you can make it on that leg?" he asked.

Cera felt the surge of anger pulse through her. "Its fine ok?!" she screamed. "Ok, I'm sorry I said anything" Chomper said, backing away a step. "I suppose you think I jumped just like everyone else?" the three horn snapped. "I don't think that, I saw that you didn't jump" Chomper replied defensively. Cera froze as her mind processed what the sharptooth had just said. "You saw my fall?" she asked. "Ya, it was pretty bad" he commented, shaking his head at the thought. "What happened, did I trip?" Cera asked.

"No, you were pushed"

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"It is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich" -Henry Ward Beecher

Well, I hope you all enjoyed that. By the way, if your a land before time fan and want to talk about it with other fans, join us at the gang of five: .?


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Life's Cruel Decisions

Comis snapped his head up and began gazing into the forest to his right. Under the shade of a large palm tree stood a Velociraptor, staring hungrily at the small club tail that Comis stood over. Comis let out a loud hiss and snapped his jaws, taking a threatening step towards the Velociraptor. The small sharptooth snapped back before turning and dashing into the forest. _Great, he'll be back with some of his friends before long_ the Utahraptor thought to himself. Killing a single Velociraptor would be as easy as squashing a bug, but when they attack in a group they can be extremely dangerous. Comis knew she needed to move on, and soon.

The Utahraptor had been following Luca and Littlefoot ever since she had killed Stoneclaw. She knew the way to Animus, but not to the Cornu Valde's birthing cave. The sharptooth knew it was somewhere north west of the actual mountain, hidden behind a massive waterfall. It actually sounded very beautiful, but few knew of its location. But if she wanted her revenge on Him, she would have to go there.

She heard the sound of tiny footsteps approaching and saw six Velociraptors peeking out from the trees. Comis knew more were probably hiding somewhere further into the forest. _Time to get out_ she thought to herself before taking one final chunk of meat and dashing off.

* * *

The sun was slowly setting in the west and the sky had orange-red hue. Littlefoot could see for miles in all directions from the mountain top he now stood upon. To the west was a flat and desolate landscape stretching to the horizon, the mysterious beyond. Only the occasional smudge of green stood out in the dirt brown environment. The wasteland slowly grew to the thin forest that made up the fringe until developing into a dense forest, a forest in which Animus stood. The long neck could see several mountains in the distance, but he did not know which was Luca's home.

Littlefoot slowly turned his head from the beautiful scene in front of him to the long neck standing beside him. The memories of his time with Ali began to flash through his mind. There weren't many of them, but they still brought a smile to his face. He looked deep into her eyes blazing green eyes and could see a gentle warmth within him. "It's good to see you again Ali" Littlefoot blurted out, realizing how stupidly simple the sentence was for such a special moment. Ali giggled and nodded then leaned her head in, lying it on Littlefoot's neck for support. Littlefoot wasn't sure how to take it, she seemed pretty tired but he knew the gesture meant much more.

Leaning in and giving Ali a more then friendly nuzzle crossed Littlefoot's mind when his thoughts turned to Cera. A sudden realization hit Littlefoot at that moment, he didn't love Cera, at least not in the way he thought he did. Cera was still more than a friend to him, and the long neck began to realize that Cera was like a sister he never had. They had first met when they were just a few days old, and have lived side by side ever since. So many journeys, adventures and struggles spent together. He had a unique form of love for her, but standing next to him was quite literally the girl of his dreams.

Littlefoot had felt lonely, there were no female long necks his age in the Great Valley, so he attached himself to the dinosaur he felt closest to besides his grandparents. He almost nuzzled Ali and he almost did it in a very affectionate way, but he couldn't. "What's wrong Littlefoot?" Ali asked as another minute went by without Littlefoot taking any action. "I have a lot to tell you" he replied. Littlefoot went on to tell Ali all about what had happened between him and Cera, and how he believed it was a mistake. Still, mistake or not, Littlefoot knew what the right thing to do was.

* * *

Luca and Rhett looked up at the two long necks above them and uttered the same expletive in unison. "I hate my life" they whispered to themselves.

* * *

"What's that?" Tricia said as she, Ducky, Spike and Petrie were continuing their journey to Animus. Ducky had been lying on her belly on top of Spike's back, lazily kicking her feet through the air as she propped her head up with her hands. Lost in space, she was staring at the distant northern horizon, watching the shapes that appeared as the clouds interacted with tiny lumps the big mouth knew to be a far off mountain range. Tricia's statement brought her back to earth though and she turned to look at what the three horn was referring too.

A few hundred feet to the south of them was a tiny grove of about twenty trees and tightly clustered bushes. They had seen many of these small, densely packed patches of vegetation that broke up the desolate wasteland of the mysterious beyond. Ducky had no idea why they existed but was sure glad they did, they provided all the food they needed. The big mouth could see that Tricia was referring what at first seemed like a large mound of dirt that was previously concealed by the grove. She could soon see though that it was no mound of dirt.

The lump of brown was actually the body of a large sharptooth. Ducky felt a quick jolt of fear course through her body before noticing the pool of congealed blood around the sharptooth. It was obviously dead. Ducky was about to tell the others to just move on before she noticed something smaller lying next to the dead dinosaur. The big mouth squinted her eyes and as they drew closer she was able to make the smaller object. It was another sharptooth, of the same kind as the dead one, standing in the pool of blood. It was obviously very young, just a child, and Ducky could now tell that it was crying.

"Don't go near it" said a deep, rough voice from behind the four travelers. Ducky looked behind her and saw dark blue fast runner. The dinosaur had obviously been through quite a rough life, with tough cracked skin and numerous scars. "Now that its mother is dead it won't last a week" he added with a hint of satisfaction. "B-B-B-But we have to help it" Petrie stammered, obviously concerned about the fast runner's reaction. "No we don't, if it lives it'll go on to kill a hundred others in its life" he replied.

The five dinosaurs were still for a moment until Spike turned away and began walking towards the young sharptooth. "What if you're one of those hundred!" the fast runner called after Spike in an attempt to stop him. The large spike tail stopped in his tracks and turned his head back to the stranger, a dead serious look on his face. "I would rather die innocent then live guilty" Spike said firmly and with conviction before turning back towards the sharptooth.

The fast runner looked down to Tricia and Petrie, who were still standing beside him. "If the spike tail actually says it, its final" Tricia told the fast runner in a flat tone before following Spike and Ducky. The fast runner stood on the spot seemingly confused as he watched the four young dinosaurs approach the baby sharptooth. After a short pause, he turned and left.

* * *

"WHAT!" Cera yelled at the top of her lungs as the sun began to set. "Oh…. You didn't know that?" Chomper asked in a subdued tone, fearful of Cera's anger. "No I didn't know that! Who did it?" she cried, shaking in anger. "It was Luca" Chomper said flatly, unsure of how the three horn would react.

Cera was silent for a moment but then she began to visibly shake. The shaking grew more and more violent until she let out the loudest and most ear shattering roar Chomper believed he had ever heard. The sharptooth wasn't sure if it was the actually force of the roar or simply the surprise from such a loud sound but Chomper fell backward onto the ground. He rubbed his head where hit a rock and smiled nervously at the three horn. Chomper could almost see the blinding white hot anger pouring out of Cera as her mind struggled to analyze the implications.

"We have to go find Littlefoot, he could be in trouble!" she said, her mind focusing on the first thing to cross it. She took a step on her injured leg and it landed in an awkward position. Pain shot up the injured leg and Cera gasped in pain, falling to the ground. "Uggghhhhh!!!!!!" she screamed, pounding her healthy leg onto the ground and kicking up a small puff dirt and dust into the air.

"You're going to have to help me Chomper" Cera said as she turned to the nervous Sharptooth. "Help you? You're twice my weight!" Chomper shot back before he realized what he had just said. "What! Are you calling me fat!" the three horn screamed, her less then cheery mood only getting worse. "N-N-N-No! I'm just saying your bigger than me, how am I supposed to help you all the way to Animus?" Chomper stammered back.

Cera knew the sharptooth was right, she couldn't make it that far on her own and Chomper wasn't anywhere near large enough to help her. Suddenly Cera felt herself being lifted up. She looked up and saw the Healer standing next to her, picking her up and positioning the three horn so the her weight was supported. "Lead the way, sharptooth" the Healer said. Chomper and Cera looked at each, shrugged, and where on their way.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Out of Control

Comis' breaths came in quick gasps as she forced her legs to keep moving. Her skin rippled as the leg muscles contracted and relaxed, putting her legs through their running motion. The Utahraptor saw a large boulder up ahead a prepared to jump over it. She took a short skip and planted her feet into the ground, storing the combined energy of the skip and her speed in her bent knees. Her legs then extended, launching her several feet in the air over the boulder. Her right leg shot out and kicked of the top of the rock, giving the sharptooth extra speed when she finally landed and could continue her run.

The Utahraptor looked at the terrain in front of her. A loose, light, sandy soil dominated a landscape filled with short bushy trees and smaller vegetation. She knew she was somewhere in the fringe, and running the in the exact opposite direction she needed to.

Comis looked back at her pursuers. She saw seven of the velociraptors from the previous day close on her tail. For a reason she was unable to explain they had been chasing her all through the night. On four separate occasions Comis thought she had finally lost them, she had even gotten a few minutes of sleep in, but they always seemed to find her again.

So the Utahraptor continued to run as the bright circle rose in the sky, turning it blood red. She knew fighting that many raptors would be futile so she really had no choice. Lost in thought she failed to notice until it was too late that she was suddenly surrounded on three sides by stone. After a quick examination of her surroundings she realized she was in a large depression in the ground, one with three steep, cliff-like sides and one gradual side.

She turned and saw the raptors slowly moving in on her. The sharptooth thought that she could probably climb the steep inclines but it would be such a struggle that the velociraptors would surly catch her. She prepared for the fight of her life by taking a couple steps back to get into a better stance. Suddenly she felt her foot press down on something soft and then instinctively put her hands to her ears to protect them from an ear shattering scream coming from behind her.

* * *

Tricia was having the most wonderful dream. She was floating through a world filled with a warm pink fluff. Sweet bubbles were everywhere and she quickly darted her head, grabbing as many as she could and rejoicing with each squirt of their sugary juice. That was until she felt something heavy crush her tail.

The young three horn let out a shrill screech as she reacted to the pain from her tail. She turned to see the source of her discomfort and saw a large three toed foot pressing down on her tail. The foot quickly rose up into the air, reacting to the three horn's scream. She looked up to see the appendage's owner and saw the fierce face of the largest fast biter she had ever laid eyes on.

"What are you doing here?", the fast biter snapped. Tricia knew all about Chomper and how he could speak the green eater language but it was still struck the three horn as incredibly odd that this sharptooth was in fact speaking to her. She stood there dumbfounded, looking up in fear. "Ugh, never mind, we have bigger worries", the fast biter said as he turned his head around. Tricia traced her line of sight and saw seven smaller fast biters closing in on them and let out another scream.

* * *

Ducky heard the first scream but in her still mostly asleep state she ignored it, choosing to turn over and bury her head under her brother. But when the second scream came her mind suddenly snapped awake and she shot her head into the air. Several feet away she saw Tricia shaking in fear as a huge fast biter stood over her. Oddly enough though neither of the two were actually looking at the other, instead they were looking in the direction of the pit's only feasible exit. Ducky traced their vision and saw the smaller fast biters.

"Wake up you two, we're in trouble!" she said as she shook her brother and in turn Petrie as he was lying on the spike tail. They both woke with as start, heads darting, taking in the situation. The large fast biter quickly looked in their direction and saw them. "Listen you four, either we work together or we're dead", she barked at them. Every fiber in Ducky's body told her not to listen to the sharptooth but still she found herself talking almost without realizing it. "Listen to her" she said almost automatically to Spike, Petrie and Tricia. The three stared back at her with quizzical looks on their faces, unsure what to make of the order she just gave.

Without hesitation the large fast biter began barking orders, trying to prevent the leaf eaters from fully analyzing the fact that they were taking orders from a sharptooth. "Ok, I want the three horn up with me and the spike tail in between us with his tail facing out. Your spikes aren't very large yet but they will have to do. Big Mouth, I want you on you on top the spike tail giving him orders since he won't be able to see. Finally I want the flyer in the sky, keep a look out for more of these things!" The dinosaurs instantly sprung into action, getting into place.

The seven small fast biters slowly approached, eying the wall of flashing spikes and claws. Finally one jumped and tried to attack the left side of the wall, where the smaller and less developed spikes on Spike and Tricia provided less resistance than the fully grown claws of the large fast biter. Ducky saw the fast biter coming and gasped, "Spike! To your right!". Spike swung his tail blindly to the right, just clipping the fast biter. Although the blow was only strong enough to leave thin red lines on the sharp tooth's leg it broke its concentration and caused it to start flailing through the air. It began falling towards Tricia who closed her eyes and braced for the impact. Ducky watched as the fast biter showed itself to be the most unlucky creature on the face of the earth. Out of pure chance it landed on Tricia with its right eye being pierced by the three horn's singular horn, killing it instantly.

Ducky was horrified to see a splash of crimson blood splatter over the young three horn's face. Tricia didn't move, keeping her eyes firmly shut until she finally opened them. It took her brain a moment to analyze what she was seeing, after which she immediately passed out.

The remaining small fast biters were too distracted by their fallen comrade's horrible luck to notice that the large sharp tooth had just taken a huge leap towards them. One looked up just in time to see a flash of white claws. The large fast biter landed on the small one and tried to take a bite at its face. All she accomplished though was to tear off a large patch of skin. She took a small hop back and slashed at the fallen dinosaur's belly. Ducky quickly turned away, only catching the tiniest glimpse of the grisly blood soaked mass that slipped out. She jumped down off spike and silently vomited, not letting anyone else see.

The remaining small fast biters turned and ran; obviously fearful of what this odd collection of adversaries had demonstrated itself capable. Ducky rushed over to Tricia and with Spike's help she managed to pull the dead fast biter off the young three horn. She looked over that the remaining sharp tooth, who returned the glance. The sharp tooth looked at the unconscious three horn and sniffed the air, obviously detected the sweet scent of the vomit. "Pathetic," it muttered.

"What happened to the baby sharptooth from yesterday?" Petrie asked as he softly landed next to the big mouth. Ducky looked around and noticed that the young sharptooth was, in fact, gone. They had taken it with them and it was there when they had fallen asleep the night before, but the baby sharptooth was quite clearly gone now. "It doesn't matter, we have bigger problems. Fan Tricia please".

The flyer obliged and beat his wings furiously over the still unmoving three horn form. Eventually Tricia groaned and opened her eyes, quickly focusing her attention at Ducky who was leaning in front of her. "I want to go home, I don't like this place," she mumbled. Ducky was starting to get the same feelings; the world outside the valley didn't suit them at all. Still, Ducky knew they had to go find Littlefoot. "Just rest sweety, it'll be ok".

"The name's Comis, or at least that's what you can call me," came a rough but feminine voice from behind Ducky. Ducky looked up at Comis, unsure of what to say. "You all are obviously not from around here, so what is it your looking for?" Ducky was slow to respond but finally managed to mutter, "We come from the Great Valley". The sharptooth's expression suddenly changed as she started examining the big mouth closely. "And are you looking for a long neck with a scar just like this?" Comis said, showing the flat tooth her crescent scar. "Why, yes actually," Ducky stammered in surprise. "Perfect," the sharptooth said as a wide smile grew on her face. Ducky wasn't laughing.

* * *

"So you and Littlefoot are mates?" Chomper asked, dumbfounded. The young sharptooth was sitting next to the large form of Cera. Cera was lying on the ground, head on her legs, staring off into the horizon. She had watched the moon slowly rise, and saw it silhouette a tree shaped like a long neck. The three horn stared at it until the moon started to move too high in the sky. She found it funny, that the moon can move so far while she stared right at it, yet it seemed to be perfectly still. Cera had always wondered about the moon and the stars, they were so beautiful yet so mysterious. She had always ignored the stories and myths about them that others bought so easily for the simple reason that they all said the stars and the moon were close. But something inside her told her they were far, far away. A part of something so much bigger then her, something she could never comprehend.

Cera normally hated feeling that way. That something was bigger, grander, and more important than her. Yet for some reason she enjoyed her feeling of inferiority to something so beautiful. It just felt right. _Sometimes, it's good to have no control_ she always said to herself, though she would never admit feeling this way.

The three horn turned away from the moon and looked across the desolate landscape she had grown to know as the Mysterious Beyond. She glanced at the Healer, who was quietly slumbering a short distance away, before looking back at Chomper sitting next to her.

"It's not that serious, we're just…. Together," she finally managed to say after a long pause.

"Why did he leave you then?" Chomper responded.

"I don't know, he just did"

"Do you think it's really a good idea?"

"Of course not! Leaving me like that was stupid," Cera barked back. _Why would he ever think it could be justified?_ She quietly thought to herself. "No, I meant being together" Chomper responded, a little hurt. "Why would it not be a good idea?" Cera asked, pretending to be annoyed but deep down she was actually curious.

"Well, it's not very long term thing. You can't have kids or anything. So wouldn't you feel like something was missing? I guess you could pull a Spike but it's not really the same thing. Besides, I watched you two grow up, and I saw a lot of love between you. But not like this" Chomper finished. "Like how then?" Cera asked, throwing away her disguise of annoyance. "Well there was this one time when I was telling this other sharp tooth kid I met, back on the island, about you guys. I was very excited and so I was talking really fast and without thinking I said 'Littlefoot and his sister Cera'. I didn't even realize it till later," said Chomper as he started to find a comfy position to fall asleep in.

Cera was silent for a while, thinking to herself. "But what if that's not what I want," she finally said. "Well some things just aren't in our control," he replied as he curled up and closed his eyes, "And sometimes, it's good to have no control".

* * *

Ali's mind was operating at a mile per minute, absorbing everything that had happened the night before. Littlefoot had told her about everything that had happened in the past several days. She focused on the news about him and Cera first. He confessed that he had his doubts about the relationship with the three horn and Ali had heard him out. In truth Ali knew he was right, she had always seen them having a very different kind of relationship. Still Ali knew it wasn't her place; it was something Littlefoot and Cera had to work out on their own.

"We should be there tonight," Luca suddenly called from up ahead. Ali looked forward at the group. After much pleading Littlefoot had convinced Luca to let her and Rhett join them on their journey. _Boy was that three horn mad when Littlefoot asked_ she thought to herself, _I should be careful where I sleep, he might try to push me off a cliff so he doesn't have to be bothered by me anymore!_ She silently chuckled at what she felt was such a ridiculous notion.

She looked at the landscape around her. They were on a steep mountain, various patches of dirt, leaves, and rock giving the ground a patched appearance. The forest was much thinner, as was the air, Ali noted as she stopped to catch her breath. She looked at Littlefoot and found herself staring at the crimson patch on his back. For nearly a minute her eyes remained locked on the colored skin, until Rhett broke her out of her trance.

"What are you staring at?" Rhett asked.

"Oh nothing," Ali quickly replied, blushing slightly. "What did you two do last night?" Rhett then question, his voice filled with unsaid accusations. "Nothing, we talked" Ali replied sternly as she followed Littlefoot again after her rest. Rhett stared after her, a look of anger plastered on his face.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Battle at the Cave

The massive sharptooth was only slightly smaller than the T-rex it had just passed. As it slowly walked into the large, dark chamber it passed through a beam of light from above, revealing its appearance. The sharptooth was a Carcharodontosaurus, or Carcar for short, with light tan and green skin and a very pale underside. The Carcar's muscular legs carried the heavy T-rex like body and were in contrast with the small and skimpy arms. A series of eight green-blue stripes covered his back, streaking from side to side. But the most striking details on this Carcar were its various battle scars. The white lines of scar tissue covered its body, and he was missing nearly a foot of his tail. Altogether it was obvious this sharptooth had been through many battles in its life.

The Carcar walked toward the far side of the cavern, a couple hundred yards away from the cavern entrance guarded by the monstrous T-rex he had passed earlier. He eventually came to a stop, the tremors caused by his heavy footsteps ceasing, and looked at the pitch black corner that contained his master. _Why do I still call him master, I don't need him but he needs me_ he thought to himself.

"Is a plan for the hatching ready?" came a booming voice from the darkness. "Yes, it's all drawn up and the orders have been given" the Carcar replied. "Excellent, Commander Stub" the voice replied. The Carcar desperately fought back the urge to correct the hidden sharptooth. His name wasn't stub, it was Blacktooth, Stub was a nickname given to him after he received his tail injury. Still, his master had somehow gotten the idea in his head that Stub was the Carcar's real name and the sharptooth knew it was best not to correct him.

"Oh, and commander, this better work, our entire campaign depends on it" the voice said with a strange inflection that told Blacktooth his master was delightfully imagining ways to punish the Carcar for any failure. "We'll see if you Carcharodontosauruses are actually as intelligent as they claim" the voice added.

The Carcar's were among a large number of sharptooth species to have been either exterminated or killed off to nothing more than a few surviving members. Unlike the Utahraptors though Carcars weren't the victims of genocide, but of their own greed. Carcars are considered the planners of the sharptooth species. They are generally more intelligent and when they get organized, armies led by them are unstoppable. This lead to the near conquering of the sharptooth world when the entire Carcar species joined together, but their incredible greed made them all turned on each other. After the backstabbing was done fewer than a hundred individuals were left.

_How far my kind has fallen_ Blacktooth thought to himself, _from near masters of the world to lowly servants to a tyrant_. "Do not fret my master, all will go according to plan, the new Cornu Valde will be within our control" Blacktooth said. "Good, go now, your inferiority is giving me a headache" the voice replied.

The Carcar turned and started to walk away. _One day, I'll kill you myself_ he thought as left his master's chamber.

* * *

Cera pushed down on her leg, slowing adding pressure, carefully searching for the point where the pain would take over. She reached it and with a small yelp she quickly pulled her leg back up off the ground. Still, the three horn was pleased with her progress. The leg must not have been nearly as injured as everyone thought, it was healing very rapidly. Still though The Healer mandated regular breaks and prevented Cera from ever putting too much strain on the leg.

They were on one of those frequent breaks, lying beneath the shade of a large tree, its leaves protecting them from the sun beating down from above. Cera sighed as she returned to her most frequent subject of thought over the past few days of travel, her conversation with Chomper. _That sharptooth is smarter then he looks_ she thought as she turned to look at the purple dinosaur as he picked at the tree's bark. Suddenly Chomper plunged his hand into a hole he had just created and picked a long brown bug that seemed to have a hundred legs. The sharptooth popped his head back, opened his jaws, and threw the bug in. Cera turned her head away a second before she heard the sickening crunch. "Eww" she whispered to herself.

Littlefoot had felt like a brother to her over all these years. She had always felt much closer to him then to the rest of the gang, which was saying quite a bit considering how close she was to all of them. Still, Cera wasn't sure she wanted to give up what she had found with Littlefoot.

"Move" The Healer suddenly called out as she got up and started walking. Cera quietly obeyed.

* * *

A winged beetle landed on a small stone on a cliffs edge, giving its wings a momentary rest. At first the flying insect thought it was alone, but when the rock it was resting on shifted the beetle quickly took off again, realizing it had landed on the head of a young long neck.

That head belonged to Littlefoot, who was lying on his belly, gazing across the deep, steep valley before him. On his left were Ali and Rhett, lying in similar positions, while Luca was on his right. On the opposite side of the valley was the destination to their long journey, the Cornu Valde's birthing cave.

It was a cave deep within a strange mountain range. A maze of peeks, valleys, caves, tunnels and cliff-side paths made up a formidable barrier. And it was cold, the whole area constantly covered in a layer of snow. It turned out that "We should be there tonight" had actually meant "We will be at the base of the mountains tonight". Five more days of climbing through the freezing mountains followed that until finally they had reached this point.

Now they sat in hiding, watching the cave closely. There were two paths that lead to the cave itself, one was large and spacious but the other was narrow, dangerous, and very steep. They knew sharptooth forces would be hiding around somewhere so the four of them were carefully watched, planning on what to do.

"Don't you think the four of us don't stand a chance against a bunch of sharpteeth?" Littlefoot whispered to Luca. "There won't be many of them; it's hard to get large groups up the mountains" the three horn replied without even looking back at Littlefoot. "Well how do we tell when the next eclipse is?" Littlefoot next asked, looking up at the cloud covered sky. The sun wasn't anywhere in sight.

"That's how" Ali suddenly said and Littlefoot adjusted his gaze to match hers. A section of cloud had suddenly cleared, a perfect circle right around the sun, and right on queue a black circle began eating away at it.

Littlefoot's mouth simply hung open. It was almost like some unseen dinosaur had just reached down and caused all to happen on command. It was too perfect.

"Move" Luca barked as he jumped up and started running down the path that eventually meets up with the wide path leading to the cave. The others panted as they tried to keep up, ever careful not to lose their grip and topple over the edge to the deep valley beside them. As they turned onto the path leading to the cave they could see the tail end of a group of sharpteeth ahead of them, and Littlefoot felt fear creep into his body.

Just as they got close to the cave, the ground started rumbling. Luca skidded to a halt and Littlefoot slammed into him as the long neck couldn't stop his momentum. Littlefoot arched his head around Luca to see why the three horn had stop and saw a quickly growing pile of rocks blocking their path. The long neck followed the rocks up to the source and saw a large sharptooth looking down, a wide grin on its face. _It's a trap_ Littlefoot suddenly thought.

"You idiots! You ruined everything!" came a voice from behind the group. Littlefoot turned to see a group of ten fully grown three horns running up to them. The front runner in the group was the one who had spoken. "Dam! You ruined it! Who are you? Is that you Luca!" the three horn said they grew closer.

"Forehorn! Behind us!" a three horn from the back called. The three horn apparently called Forehorn, which was the first three horn to speak, looked back. Littlefoot looked too, and saw ten fast bitters and two large sharpteeth bearing down on the group. "Screwed, screwed, I hope your happy we're all screwed!" the Forehorn spat in disgusted as he took another look at Littlefoot and his friends. "Back six, form ranks!" he then called back to the other three horns apparently under his command.

The six three horns closest to the sharpteeth quickly ran to meet them, leaving a large amount of path between them and the rock wall. Moments before meeting up with the vicious predators though, they formed a line that stretched the length of the path, creating a wall of horns facing the sharpteeth. It was obvious by the level of discipline that these three horns had seen a lot of fighting in their days.

"Littlefoot look! Up there!" Ali called out. Littlefoot looked to a point further up the mountain that Ali had indicated to and saw more fast biters half running, half tumbling down the mountain side towards them. Littlefoot had just enough time count ten fast biters before one jumped straight at the long neck. Littlefoot's instincts took over and he whipped his tail at the fast biter. He hit the dinosaur and it was knocked off balance, tumbling through the air straight towards the cliffs edge. It desperately reached out in a last ditch attempted to grab Littlefoot's tail and pull its self up but only managed to leave a light scratch on the longneck. Littlefoot watched as the fast bitter disappeared over the cliffs edge.

Littlefoot stared after it for a moment. _I just killed it_ he thought to himself in disbelief. The dinosaur quickly snapped back to attention though as he saw another fast biter lunge at him out of the corner of his eye. He ducked his head and the fast biter flew right over it, landing and skidding to a halt.

The fast biter glared back up to Littlefoot and jumped at him again, this time aiming for the center of the long neck's mass. Littlefoot again tried to whip the fast biter with his tail but missed, and the small carnivore landed on his back, clawing at him.

Littlefoot cried out in pain then slammed his body into the rock face, trying to crush the fast biter, but the creature manage to climb up on the long neck's back and then jump off. The two circled for a moment before the fast biter yet again jumped at Littlefoot, who yet again tried to hit it with his tail. This time though he was successful, slamming the fast biter into the rock face with incredible force. Littlefoot looked away as heard the crack of breaking bones. He then looked back to see the fast biter on the ground, alive but badly hurt. The long neck walked up to it, leaned in, and said "Run". The fast biter happily obliged as it quickly jumped up and limped and scrabbled its way up the rock pile blocking the path, somehow managing to make it over the top.

Littlefoot looked back at the others to see the fight quickly wrapping up. All ten of the fast biters that had attacked behind the three horn line were either lying dead on the ground, or mysteriously missing. Littlefoot assumed the missing fast biters had taken a little plunge over the edge. From what Littlefoot could tell the three horn line and the other group of sharpteeth had simply stood around looking menacing the whole time as the line was still intact and all the sharpteeth that were there in the beginning were now walking away unharmed. Littlefoot sighed with relief when he saw Ali was okay. Still, the long necks legs felt like jelly as he realized he had just killed.

* * *

"Here, just follow this trail and you'll arrive" Comis said as the sharptooth stopped and looked back at the leaf eaters following her. Ducky looked past her up the trail, which lead straight up the side of a heavily wooded mountain. "This volcano is the famous Animus Mountain" Comis added.

"Volcano? What is that?" Petrie asked as he perched on Spike's head. _Idiots_ Comis thought to herself. "It's a mountain that spews fire and lava" Comis replied, barely hiding her disgust. She looked back at the flyer who just hung his head. "Now listen, all of you, I cannot follow you beyond this point. If they see a sharptooth they kill on sight, so I have to stay down here. But each day, just before the bright circle, as you seem to call it, is about to disappear below the horizon I want the flyer to come down here and update me on what is going on. Now I warn the four of you, those three horns don't take too kindly to other species. Good luck" Comis finished. With that the Utah raptor got up and ran off, leaving the four leaf eaters at the foot of Animus Mountain.

* * *

"What are you doing here Luca!" The three horn Littlefoot only knew as Forehorn said. Littlefoot looked at Luca to see a puzzled look on the three horn's face. "Wha-wha-what do you mean? I brought Littlefoot of the Great Valley" Luca stammered in response. "You brought wh- Oh…" Forehorn trailed off.

Forehorn started pacing back and forth. "Okay, I guess this is kind of my bad. Hehe, woops" Forehorn said with an awkward smile. "Which one of you is Littlefoot?" He said looking back at the three long necks looking on in confusion.

"I am" Littlefoot responded. "So you're a real dinosaur?" the Forehorn asked quizzically. "Well… Ya" Littlefoot said, his confusion growing.

"Forehorn Kiga, permission to give post-battle report" said another three horn that had just walked up to the group. "Permission granted" the Forehorn, who Littlefoot now knew was actually called Forehorn Kiga, responded.

"Battle Group 1 and four non-soldier leaf eaters engaged two groups of hostile sharpteeth that together contained two T-Rexes and twenty D-chews. Friendly forces suffered only minor injuries while hostile forces suffered six confirmed D-chew kills and three presumed D-chew kills. All other hostiles fled the fight" the three horn finished. "Ya, thanks soldier, go get Silus" Forehorn Kiga replied, after obviously ignoring every word the other three horn had said.

"Well since I'm about to tell you some shocking and probably unwelcome news I might as well introduce myself. My official title is Forehorn Kiga, leader of Battle Group 1, but since you're not soldiers you can just call me Kiga" the three horn said. "Uh, nice to meet you Kiga" Ali replied after a long pause by the three long necks.

Kiga turned to a new three horn that had just joined the group, obviously the Silus Kiga had asked for, and for the first time since the battle Littlefoot's head started thinking a little clearly as he started to examine the two three horns in front of him. Kiga seemed like an unusually small three horn but every square inch of his body budged with muscle. He had the ordinary grey body and pale underside of a fully grown three horn. Silus was a very large three horn, but as he came near he didn't make a sound, an incredible feat for such a large creature. Silus' coloration was also unremarkable but Littlefoot's eyes were drawn to the mangled, knotted flesh on the three horn's neck. The mass of scar tissue sat right on the leaf eater's throat in what Littlefoot assumed must have been horrible injury.

"Ah, Silus, we appear to have Littlefoot of the Great Valley in our presence" Kiga said, gesturing towards Littlefoot with his head. Silus' eyes grew wide as he quickly shifted his gaze between Littlefoot and Kiga. "This is my second in command, Silus. An injury he suffered in battle a few years ago left him mute, but trust me he's as surprised as I am to see you" Kiga said. "And why exactly is that mister!" Rhett suddenly said, putting on the fake "tough guy" attitude that Littlefoot was all too used to seeing.

"Well first off I doubt Luca has been very honest about who he is, have you Luca?" Kiga said in a taunting tone. Luca, who seemed just as confused as the long necks, looked away at this remark. "Luca here was always… well the most enthusiastic of the young three horns, he spent his entire childhood training in hopes to one day join us, the Animus Benevolentia. But this often got him in trouble; in fact he started becoming quite the pain. It was because of a blunder on his part similar to what happened today that the egg was stolen in the first place. We couldn't bear to punish such an enthusiastic child but we couldn't afford to have him mess anything else up. So we lied." Kiga said.

"What do you mean you lied!" Luca suddenly burst, his face contorted in fury. "Luca, the seer is a ceremonial figure, she doesn't actually have the ability to predict the future. In fact that whole idea is simply ridiculous" Kiga responded.

Luca's jaw dropped, pure shock crossing his face. "We needed to be rid of you for a few months, but we couldn't bear hurting you. So we came up with some silly name we never thought anyone would actually have and came up with a location we never thought you could find" Kiga finished. "Oh and by the way Littlefoot, your name is simply ridiculous, I mean honestly. You're a long neck, you have a huge foot!" Kiga added with a slight chuckle.

Luca and the three long necks simply stared in shock at what was revealed at them, any humor completely lost. "Oh come on, not even a chuckle? Okay… Umm, sorry?" Kiga said with an awkward smile.


End file.
